Jet Airways bidding: Lenders shortlist four bidders for airline's revival

Lenders to crisis-hit Jet Airways, which has been grounded for more than a year, have reportedly finalised four potential bidders who may submit a bid proposal to acquire stake in the bankrupt airline by next month. The suitors have inked non-disclosure pacts with the Jet Airways' committee of creditors and have been given access to the defunct airline's financial data, BloombergQuint reported, citing a source.

The four little-known bidders who have shown interest in Jet Airways are UK's Kalrock Capital Partners and one Dubai-based man, Murari Lal Jalan; a consortium of Abu Dhabi-based Imperial Capital Investments LLC (ICIL), Haryana-based Flight Simulation Technique Centre Pvt Ltd (FSTCPL) and Mumbai-based Big Charter Pvt Ltd (BCPL); Canada-based entrepreneur Sivakumar Rasiah; and Kolkata's Alpha Airways.

As per the report, the bidders have been given two weeks' time to review the financial health of the company and firm up their bids. The bidders have the option to not submit a bid at the end of the due diligence process, it said.

Also Read: Jet Airways crisis: Four little-known bidders finalised for airline's revival

The deadline for corporate insolvency resolution process of Jet Airways has been extended by more than two months to August 21 to exclude the duration of coronavirus lockdown that began on March 25. This happens to be the fourth round of bidding for the defunct carrier.

The deadline was extended after Jet Airways' Resolution Professional applied to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking a 90-day extension for the resolution process of the airline light of COVID-19 pandemic.

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India's oldest private airline Jet Airways stopped operations on April 17, 2019 after it ran out of funds and was admitted for insolvency on June 20. It has been grounded for over one year now and the slots allotted to it have been re-allocated to other airlines. Financial creditors to Jet Airways have filed Rs 8,232 crore worth of claims, while operational creditors owed more than Rs 7,300 crore, as per details available on the airline's website.

By Chitranjan Kumar